Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, September 18, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
There are so many challenging things about this story. The fact that Hagar was a sex slave. The fact that she flaunted her pregnancy in Sarai’s face. The fact that Sarai treated her harshly (she was Sarai’s slave to do with as she pleased, after all). The fact that God told Hagar to go home and submit to Sarai’s mistreatment. And ultimately the fact that Ishmael was Abraham’s first born son, but was utterly excluded from God’s promise to Abraham. Sure, Ishmael got his own nation (and from him, the Muslim community traces their origin). But the events leading up to that point are a cluster of everything wrong with slavery and patriarchal society. I suppose one could just chalk it up to the fact that “that’s just how things worked then.” And they wouldn’t be wrong. But with our modern eyes, how are we to reconcile God’s love with the series of wrongs done to Hagar?
I don’t suppose we can. All we can do is bless Hagar and Ishmael and turn them over to God’s loving care, and then be very clear with ourselves about how we, in this day and age, contribute to systems which perpetuate the kind of injustice that Hagar faced. How can we continue to dismantle white supremacy, patriarch, modern slavery in the American prison system, systemic racism, state violence… the list goes on. We owe it to Hagar and Ishmael to work to bring God’s reign of justice into the world.
Where do I see myself in this story? How does that inform my thoughts about modern injustices?
